HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL: Blazers pounce on Pottsville

On the occasion of Friday’s football game with Pottsville, the school held its annual Homecoming ceremonies. It also enshrined the two newest members to its sports Wall of Fame at halftime.

As for the football game ... well, a 26-8 romp over the Crimson Tide was the cherry on the chocolate cake of a festive night for anyone partial to Blazer blue.

“The kids deserved this,” Boone head coach Bill Parks said after a raucous postgame huddle celebrating the team’s second straight Berks Football League Section One win. “They worked hard all week.”

Big-strike scoring plays were key to Boone (2-2, 2-5 overall) effectively negating a running game that got Pottsville (0-4, 1-6) an early lead. Kyle Myers figured in on three touchdown plays covering almost 140 yards, before Xavier Smith — a hero of the Blazer defense with timely fumble recoveries — scored once to cap his own 130 yards’ rushing and receiving.

“They’ve bought into what the coaching staff has told them,” Parks said. “They stick to their guns and work hard on what we do. They come out and play every play.”

The Blazers hung tight with the Tide for the game’s first 18 minutes, even when the visitors drove into Boone’s red zone on two of their first three possessions. The fourth time, Pottsville got on the scoreboard as quarterback Patrick Keating (4-for-5, 36 yards) hooked up with Michael Wythe on a 23-yard pass tipped into the Tide senior’s hands by lunging safety Austin Monteiro.

The Crimson Tide appeared to be touchdown-bound the next time it had the ball, Wythe (18 carries, 138 yards) roaring 50 yards to the end zone at the 3:01 mark in the half. But his fumble was recovered by Smith for a touchback, ending Pottsville’s last best chance to score for the rest of the game.

“Position is everything,” said Smith, who also pounced on a loose ball to end the Tide’s first drive at the Boone 13. “As long as you line up in the right position, you can make anything happen. I just tried to hustle up there as best as I could.”

“That was a big, great hustle play by him,” Myers added. “It changed the momentum. We all came together and got real excited, started firing off the ball every play.”

Boone, by comparison, fed off its defense’s stops to go ahead, then pull away, in the second half.

Getting the ball back on their 32 inside the three-minute mark of the third quarter, the Blazers went ahead 13-8 when Sievers (8-for-11, 191 yards) hooked up with Myers on a 68-yard pass. They collaborated on another aerial TD — this one covering 15 yards with 8:58 left in the game — before Smith rolled 68 yards around his right end little more than two minutes later.

“I try not to go down every time I get the ball in my hands,” Myers said. “I just knew if I kept trucking I could get in the end zone. Last week I had two (touchdowns), so I set a goal to get three and came out with it.

“We have a lot of big kids out there, and they hustle.”

Boone’s final blow to its guests came with 2:59 left, Monteiro intercepting Pottsville fullback Shawn Brennan on a pass attempt three yards short of midfield. It ran out the clock with a final march covering 27 yards.

“The coaches and players did a great job,” Parks said. “This is the outcome we wanted.”

NOTESMyers finished the night with a combined 180 yards’ total offense, 97 of them on the ground. ... Patrick Stone emerged as one of Sievers’ favorite targets in the passing game. The senior tight end was on the receiving end of five tosses good for 73 yards. ... Amanda Metzger was crowned Boone’s 2012 Homecoming queen, and Dan Rohlfing the Homecoming king, during the halftime ceremonies. That came after the school added Chris Gallino (Class of 1999) and Kelsey Mack (Class of 2005) to its sports Wall of Fame.